Ilir Latifi is the latest fighter to be removed from the UFC roster.
The veteran heavyweight and light heavyweight completed his most recent contract this past May and has not been re-signed by the promotion. UFC officials confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Monday.
Obviously, Latifi could be re-signed in the future, but as of now he’s been removed from the roster.
Latifi first joined the UFC back in 2013 when he accepted a short-notice fight against Gegard Mousasi after his teammate Alexander Gustafsson was forced off the card. He lost a unanimous decision, but remained with the UFC, picking up two wins in a row before falling to future light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
He eventually made the move up to heavyweight in 2020, and after dropping a decision to Derrick Lewis, he bounced back with a pair of wins over Tanner Boser and Aleksei Oleinik. Latifi then suffered a split decision loss to Rodrigo Nascimento at the recent UFC Vegas 73 event, which marked the final bout on his UFC deal.
Latifi now becomes a free agent, with the ability to sign with any promotion now that he’s no longer on the UFC roster.